Experience Of Spiritual Care Research Articles

Exploring Nurse Communication About Spirituality.

Although spiritual care is considered one of the pillars of palliative care, many health-care providers never receive formal training on how to communicate about spirituality with patients and families. The aim of this study was to explore the spiritual care experiences of oncology nurses in order to learn more about patient needs and nurse responses. A survey was circulated at a communication training course for oncology nurses in June 2015. Nurses recalled a care experience that included the initiation of a spiritual care topic and their response to the patient/family. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Nurses reported that communication about spirituality was primarily initiated by patients, rather than family members, and spiritual topics commonly emerged during the end of life or when patients experienced spiritual distress. Nurses' experiences highlighted the positive impact spiritual conversations had on the quality of patient care and its benefit to families. Spiritual communication was described as an important nursing role at the end of patients' lives, and nonverbal communication, listening, and discussing patients' emotions were emphasized as important and effective nurse communication skills during spiritual care conversations. Approximately one-third of nurses in the sample reported sharing their own personal spiritual or religious backgrounds with patients, and they reported that these sharing experiences strengthened their own faith. It is evident that patients want to discuss spiritual topics during care. Study findings illustrate the need to develop a spiritual communication curriculum and provide spiritual care communication training to clinicians.

Exploring the Phenomenon of Spiritual Care Between Hospital Chaplains and Hospital Based Healthcare Providers

Hospital chaplaincy and spiritual care services are important to patients’ medical care and well-being; however, little is known about healthcare providers’ experiences receiving spiritual support. A phenomenological study examined the shared experience of spiritual care between hospital chaplains and hospital-based healthcare providers (HBHPs). Six distinct themes emerged from the in-depth interviews: Awareness of chaplain availability, chaplains focus on building relationships with providers and staff, chaplains are integrated in varying degrees on certain hospital units, chaplains meet providers’ personal and professional needs, providers appreciate chaplains, and barriers to expanding hospital chaplains’ services. While HBHPs appreciated the care received and were able to provide better patient care as a result, participants reported that administrators may not recognize the true value of the care provided. Implications from this study are applied to hospital chaplaincy clinical, research, and training opportunities.

Experience of Spiritual Care in Cardiac Rehabilitation: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.

The aim of the study was to explore the experience of spiritual care among a cardiac rehabilitation team. Spiritual care is an important dimension of providing comprehensive care, and understanding the views of health professionals is pivotal to making recommendations for caring. This study used an interpretive phenomenological approach. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 13 cardiac rehabilitation professionals. Seven persons participated in individual interviews and six in focus group discussions. Data were analyzed using Smith and Osborn's interpretative phenomenological analysis method. Study data were categorized into more than 150 initial themes, 12 clustered and four superordinate themes, included: 'Helping patients to obtain a meaningful sense of being', 'Providing religious/spiritual focused care', 'holistic approach to rehabilitation is needed' and 'spirituality as a neglected aspect of rehabilitation'. Participants described that they did not have sufficient training in providing spiritual care. Nurses' awareness of spiritual care meaning among a cardiac rehabilitation team is helping to respond to rehabilitation care in a holistic approach. Helping patients to get a meaningful sense of being is an important part of assisting in recovery and adjustment following an acute cardiac event. Providing clear guidelines and support for providing spiritual care in cardiac rehabilitation is required.

Analysis of Research Trends about Spiritual Care in Korea

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the research trends of spiritual care in Korea and to make suggestions for future studies. Methods: 209 researches from 1981 to 2012 were analyzed. Results: Among the 209 studies reviewed. 74 were thesis studies and 135 for reported research in academic journal. There were 169 quantitative studies, 11 qualitative studies and 29 other types studies. The most frequently used study design was correlational. The majority of study participants were patients, followed by nursing students, nurses or non-medical participants. In the correlation studies, the variable of spiritual well-being had a positive correlation with hope, self-esteem and spiritual nursing care and a negative correlation with depression, anxiety and loneliness. In the experimental studies, the independent variables were spiritual nursing intervention, spiritual care education program and spiritual promoting intervention. The main theme of qualitative studies were the experience of spiritual care, spiritual experience and the most frequent designs were grounded theory, phenomenology and interpretative phenomenology. Conclusion: The domestic research about spiritual care needs to utilize a variety of approaches including concept or tool development study suitable for Korean peoples, multi-disciplinary research, qualitative study and program development study.

Initiating Palliative Care Conversations: Lessons from Jewish Bioethics

What are the ethical responsibilities of the medical staff (doctors, nurses, social workers, and chaplains) regarding the preservation of meaningful life for their patients who are approaching the end of life (EOL)? In particular, what is the staff's ethical responsibility to initiate a conversation with their patient regarding palliative care? By subjecting traditional Jewish teachings to an ethical analysis and then exploring the underlying universal principles, we will suggest a general ethical duty to inform patients of the different care options, especially in a manner that preserves hope. The principle that we can derive from Jewish bioethics teaches that the medical staff has a responsibility to help our patients live in a way that is consistent with how they understand their task or responsibility in life. For some patients, the best way to preserve a meaningful life in which they can fulfill their sense of purpose in the time that remains is to focus on palliation. For this reason, although palliative and supportive care are provided from the time of diagnosis, it is critical we make sure our patients realize that they have the opportunity to make a decision between either pursuing additional active treatments or choosing to focus primarily on palliative therapies to maximize quality of life. The Jewish tradition and our experience in spiritual care suggest the importance of helping patients preserve hope while, simultaneously, honestly acknowledging their situation. Staff members can play a vital role in helping patients make the most of this new period of their lives.

Spiritual care in a multicultural oncology environment

Increasingly, oncology is practiced within multicultural environments. All aspects of care, including spiritual care should be delivered to patients with cancer in a culturally sensitive manner. In this article, we discuss the influence of culture on patients with cancer throughout the disease process by highlighting relevant reports in the literature. Most articles focussing on culture and oncology are single-author or single-institution narrative reports pertaining to experiences with an individual racial, ethnic, religious or minority patient group. The majority of articles are found within the palliative care and nursing literature. Health-related values vary widely across cultures, and the experience of spiritual care in oncology differs greatly across cultural groups. Although culture is generally recognized as an important health determinant that impacts the experience of care, the extent of different cultural influences is not well understood due to a paucity of relevant data, and reports on resources and educational strategies to optimize culturally competent spiritual care are similarly lacking.

Spiritual Care Experiences of Iranian Nursing Students

Spiritual Care Experiences of Iranian Nursing Students

Spiritual care in a hospital setting: nurses’ and patients’ perspectives

Many patients wish to discuss spiritual issues with nurses. Previous work has shown that nurses do so infrequently. A mixed methods research approach was used to investigate the perceptions of spiritual care of nurses and patients. Fifty-one nurses and 75 patients of five hospital departments of a non-academic hospital in the Netherlands were surveyed in 2007. We recorded the nurses’ perception of patient wishes, perceived relevance of spiritual care for patients, spiritual care provided in practice, and their evaluation of the spiritual care provided for the patients. With regard to the patients the nurses cared for, we recorded their satisfaction with the information and experiences of spiritual care provided by the nurses. Furthermore, semi-structured qualitative interviews with eight nurses examined the nurses’ perceptions of spiritual care including perceived barriers and facilitators of spiritual care giving. The nurses generally perceived spiritual care as important. The quantitative and qualitative research indicated that <em>time to listen, availability, empathic skills, openness to other opinions, and a good relationship of trust</em> were important facilitators. Fortyone per cent of the nurses said that few patients received sufficient attention to their spiritual needs. Patients also experienced limitations in the support for and registration of their spiritual needs. Both nurses and patients acknowledged shortcomings in the provision of spiritual care. Even though some issues may be improved relatively easily, such as registering needs, in practice giving spiritual care is complex, as it requires being available and building a relationship with the patient.

Patients of parish nurses experience renewed spiritual identity: a grounded theory study

This article is a report of a study of the process that patients of parish nurses experience when they are provided spiritual care in Christian churches, a context where patients and nurses share a common set of values. Many studies have explored hospitalized patients' views and experiences of spiritual care. However, little is known about the spiritual changes that patients experience as they receive care from parish nurses. The grounded theory method was used to explore what patients of the parish nurses experienced in spiritual care. Half of the participants were interviewed in 1999-2001 at the time of the parish nurse interviews, and half in 2005. Audiotapes were transcribed verbatim. Constant comparative methods were used to analyse the incidents of receiving spiritual care. Theoretical memos described how the 'main concern' of the patients to resolve their health challenge resulted in changes to their spiritual identity. Phases in the change process included: facing a health challenge, finding a safe place, releasing burdens, changing perspectives and joining or rejoining the family of faith. The essence the patients experienced was an enhanced understanding of who they were in God/Christ. The patient's spiritual challenge is to re-conceptualize the self (as one who is known and loved by God) in the context of a particular health challenge. Spiritual care helps them find a new equilibrium in faith.

The effectiveness of an educational programme for nursing students on developing competence in the provision of spiritual care

To determine the effects of a course for nursing students on developing competence in spiritual care and the factors that might influence the effects. Studies suggest that role preparation in nursing for spiritual care is poor. For the assessment of competence, few or no explicit competency framework or assessment tools seemed to be used. Quasi-experimental crossover design (pre-post-test). The subjects were students from Christian nursing schools in the Netherlands (n = 97). The intervention consisted of a course in spiritual care. Competencies were measured with an assessment tool, the Spiritual Care Competence Scale. Data were analysed by t-test procedures (paired-samples t-test). At T(1) vignettes were added to assess the quality of the students' own analyses. These data were analysed by a Mann-Whitney test. Regression analyses were performed on the influence of student characteristics on the subscales of the assessment tool. Ninety-seven students participated in this study. Analysis showed statistically significant changes in scores on three subscales of the Spiritual Care Competence Scale between groups (T(1)) and over time for the whole cohort of students on all subscales (T(2)). Clinical placement showed as a negative predictor for three subscales of the Spiritual Care Competence Scale. Experience in spiritual care and a holistic vision of nursing both showed as positive predictors on certain competencies. A statistically significant difference was observed between groups in the student analysis of a vignette with explicit spiritual content. The outcomes raise questions about the content of education in spiritual care, the measurement of competencies and the factors that influence competency development. The results provide nurse educators with insight into the effects of education in spiritual care on students' competencies and help them consider a systematic place for spiritual care within the nursing curriculum.

Perceptions of Spiritual Nursing Care Nurses and Nursing Students

This study was designed to clarify how nurses and nursing students perceive their clients' needs for spiritual nursing care, it's practices, and problems. The purpose was to suggest directions for the development of spiritual nursing practice. The major findings are as follows: Respondents primarily perceived spiritual nursing as nursing care designed to help terminally ill patients accept death. Many of the respondents showed a high level of awareness of spiritual nursing care and its necessity. Few of them, however, bad actual experience in spiritual care. Those with experience in spiritual nursing care tend of take either a religious approach or perceived it as the therapeutic use of the self. The greatest problem related to the practice of spiritual care was found to be lack of time. Most of nurses and nursing students were found to be well aware of the needs for spiritual nursing care but were hindered from practising it because of the lack of time. To resolve the problem it was recommended that the scope of nursing practice be readjusted and that pre- and in-service programs should be developed to further heighten nursing students' interest in spiritual nursing care.